Activists say Syrian missile strike kills 19

This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people searching through the debris of destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a strike by Syrian government forces, in the neighborhood of Jabal Bedro, Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2013. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a 131-page report Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, detailing deepening radicalization by both sides and says fighters on both sides in Syria's civil war have committed atrocities and should be brought to justice. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
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This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people searching through the debris of destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a strike by Syrian government forces, in the neighborhood of Jabal Bedro, Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2013. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a 131-page report Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, detailing deepening radicalization by both sides and says fighters on both sides in Syria's civil war have committed atrocities and should be brought to justice. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
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In this combo image, displaced Syrians pose for photographs in the Azaz camp for displaced persons, north of Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)— AP

In this combo image, displaced Syrians pose for photographs in the Azaz camp for displaced persons, north of Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Muddy boots belonging to displaced Syrians are seen at the entrance of a tent in the Azaz camp for displaced persons north of Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)— AP

Muddy boots belonging to displaced Syrians are seen at the entrance of a tent in the Azaz camp for displaced persons north of Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Three young displaced Syrian girls are seen in the Azaz camp for displaced people north of Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)— AP

Three young displaced Syrian girls are seen in the Azaz camp for displaced people north of Aleppo province, Syria, Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. According to Syrian activists the number of people in the Azaz camp has grown by 3,000 in the last weeks due to heavier shelling by government forces. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
/ AP

BEIRUT 
A Syrian missile strike leveled a stretch of buildings and killed at least 19 people in the city of Aleppo, leaving residents combing through the rubble to find those trapped beneath it, anti-regime activists said Tuesday.

The strike was the latest salvo in a fierce and bloody 7-month battle for Syria's largest city and economic center, a key prize in the civil war.

Rebels have slowly expanded their control over parts of Aleppo since first storming it last summer. The city is now divided between rebel- and regime-controlled zones.

Rebel forces have been trying for weeks to capture the city's international airport and two military airbases nearby, while the government is bringing in reinforcements from areas it still controls further south and regularly bombing rebel areas from the air.

The Britain-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 19 people were confirmed dead in the attack late Monday night, including six children and three women.

The activist Aleppo Media Center said more than 40 were killed, though it did not provide names or videos of the dead. There was no way to reconcile the differing tolls.

Both groups said the strike appeared to be from a ground-to-ground missile. The Syrian government did not comment.

Activist Mohammed al-Khatib of the AMC said via Skype that the death toll could rise further as residents search the site for more bodies.

"There are still many martyrs under the rubble. ... There are still lots of people missing from the area," he said.

He said the strike appeared to be from a large ground-to-ground missile because of the scale of the destruction and because residents did not report hearing a fighter jet, as they usually do during airstrikes.

Videos posted online showed scores of men searching the destroyed buildings in the poor Jabal Badro neighborhood for the dead and wounded. One man swung a sledgehammer to break through concrete while a bulldozer hauled off rubble. In another video, a man covered in grey dust struggled under pile of concrete.

The videos appeared authentic and corresponded with other Associated Press reporting.

Although President Bashar Assad's forces regularly shell and launch airstrikes on areas held by anti-government rebels, their use of large missiles has been limited.

In December, U.S. and NATO officials confirmed rebel reports that Syrian forces had fired Scud missiles at rebel areas in northern Syria. That was the last confirmed use of such weapons.

Also Wednesday, rebels clashed with government forces near Aleppo's international airport and the Kweiras military airport nearby, the Observatory said. Clashes have halted air traffic to the two airports for weeks, since rebels launched their offensive to try to capture them.

The Observatory also reported government shelling and airstrikes and clashes between government forces and rebels east and south of the capital, Damascus.

The Syrian state news agency said the army had carried out "successful operations against terrorists" in Aleppo, mentioning a number of neighborhoods that did not include Jabal Badro.

Syria refers to rebels seeking to topple Assad as "terrorists" and blames the conflict on an international conspiracy to weaken the country.